As Mark Twain toured Europe, in 1878, observing the ladies of his party
reverently admiring the old master painters, he was inspired to write "The
Immortal Hair Trunk"--"possibly the funniest piece of demolition in the
history of art criticism."

The other great work which fascinated me was Bassano's immortal Hair
Trunk. This is in the Chamber of the Council of Ten. It is in one of the
three forty-foot pictures which decorate the walls of the room. The
composition of this picture is beyond praise. The Hair Trunk is not
hurled at the stranger's head--so to speak--as the chief feature of an
immortal work so often is; no, it is carefully guarded from prominence,
it is subordinated, it is restrained, it is most deftly and cleverly held in
reserve, it is most cautiously and ingeniously led up to, by the master,
and consequently when the spectator reaches it at last, he is taken
unawares, he is unprepared, and it bursts upon him with a stupefying
surprise.

One is lost in wonder at all the thought and care which this elaborate planning must have cost. A general glance at the picture could
never suggest that there was a hair trunk in it; the Hair Trunk is not
mentioned in the title even--which is, "PopeAlexander III. and the Doge Ziani, the Conqueror of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa"; you
see, the title is actually utilized to help divert attention from the Trunk;
thus, as I say, nothing suggests the presence of the Trunk, by any hint,
yet everything studiedly leads up to it, step by step. Let us examine into
this, and observe the exquisitely artful artlessness of the plan.

At the extreme left end of the picture are a couple of women, one
of them with a child looking over her shoulder at a wounded man sitting
with bandaged head on the ground. These people seem needless, but no,
they are there for a purpose; one cannot look at them without seeing the
gorgeous procession of grandees, bishops, halberdiers, and banner-bearers which is passing along behind them; one cannot see the procession
without feeling a curiosity to follow it and learn whither it is going; it
leads him to the Pope, in the center of the picture, who is talking with
the bonnetless Doge--talking tranquilly, too, although within twelve

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